During break time, to ease the anxiety and aggression, a collective dance workshop was proposed to promote relaxation. Dance is movement and therefore motor activity, but dance is rhythm and therefore is an activity intimately linked to music.

The acquisition
of motor skills through the practice of collective dances is particularly
effective, as it is favored by a playful and pleasure situation within a
musical situation.

Functional objective

Motor coordination:

General coordination

Laterality

Segmental coordination
(ability to use the lower and upper limbs, both independently and in relation
to others).

Cognitive objective

Space-time organization

Rhythmic sense

Expressive and aesthetic sensitivity

Physiological enhancement

Sound and musical perception Music production

Relational objective

Socialization, cooperation and integration

Dynamic relationships

Self esteem

The workshop was
an approach to the steps of Caribbean dances and songs where the rhythm becomes
overwhelming. In the gym the students divided into teams of 20 each lined up
behind their “training cone” which indicated the position to be held.
At the beginning they were explained their steps without music, they tried them
on the spot several times. Then they learned to combine singing with movements.
They tried first individually and then in groups

Everyone had fun
in the group show, everyone found their place and a bit of personal visibility
but in an overall design. Even if the individual performance was not perfect in
the movements, this contributed however to the realization of a meaningful and
motivating whole.

The result has been the awakening of the taste to move, the pleasure of playing, the high motivation towards movement. A state of well-being perceived and not dormant in front of a television or a videogame.

– Involvement and interaction between what is read and children experiences

– “Reading animation”

What to do in order to arouse interest in reading? Which strategies should be activated to achieve this goal?

To promote reading in the school we have:

– created reading spaces;

– read aloud in a collective situation;

– brought the children to the library;

– created book exhibitions within schools;

– produced stimulating activities.

While to promote the pleasure of reading the compelling and agreeable strategy was reading animation, a game that involved the students to the point of giving birth to the desire to deepen the stories heard and played.

The pupils were divided into two groups of 10, each group worked on a different book

1) PRE LISTENING PHASE

Before starting the reading, the teacher called the pupils’ attention to the illustration of the cover, then gave each child a card on which they would write their hypotheses in the appropriate space “I THINK THAT”…

I THINK THAT THE STORY SAYS

Who will the story talk about?

What are you doing?

Who will be bad with him/her?

What will happen?

2) LISTENING PHASE

WAITING SUSPENSE CURIOSITY was created
around the book (arrangement in a semicircle, while sitting or lying down. Cozy
and friendly atmosphere, soft lighting, adequate furnishings, background music
…). Teacher began reading aloud. The children will have to check if their
hypotheses (I THINK THAT) are correct and make any changes.

To further characterize the story, a power point was created with the illustrations in the text accompanied by a suitable musical base.

3) AFTER LISTENING PHASE animation
activities.

a) Continuation of the story: – “What
happens next?” – What would have happened if …

b) From the narrative text to the poetic
text. From prose to poetry.

After having thoroughly read the text, the
students identify which are the most suggestive pieces for them and rewrite the
content in poetic form.

c) In this activity the pupils must search
for the title of a chapter of the book they have read, bearing in mind its
content: on paper the teacher has prepared chapters, titles that are not too
easy, replacing the originals, which they correspond to the content and are not
too easy; – give each child a card; – leave enough time for children to find
the right match. For example: original title. “The portentous plan”
instead of “The explosive idea … …”

d) It was then proposed to listen to short
passages of the text modified in part, the students had to guess which part had
been modified.

Animation activities for reading proved to
be very welcome and captivating:

the book read aloud by the teacher is super required by the students;

pupils, through games, make a sort of analysis of history;

if the story is captivating there is identification on the part of the
students;

pupils often ask the teacher for a re-reading of the story, in the same
way and atmospheres.

It is a lived fairy tale

The
students of 2nd grade of secondary school read and dramatized, for
pupils in grade 4 primary, the fairy tale THE LION AND THE MOUSE (Fedro)

Children listen to the reading of the story made by the
older students

Students dramatize the story

Then, students proposed, to the pupils from primary school, some games invented by them about the recently interpreted fairy tale.

Responsible person of the activity: Local coordinator and primary class
teachers.

Objective of the
activity:

Give birth and cultivate in children the pleasure of reading

Educate the habit of listening and communicating with others

Enhance the experience of reading and personal imagination

Motivate to the conversation on common readings

Discover the visual language

Promote the emotional and emotional approach of the child to the book.

Provide the child with the necessary skills to achieve an active creative
and constructive relationship with the book

Use form and color in their expressive symbolic meaning

To grasp and describe the denotative meaning of the visual message
(illustration of photos, pictures).

To grasp and describe the connotative meaning of the visual message
(illustration of photos, pictures).

In the library of the school the teacher has read aloud some books and the
“listened” books are the most sought after ones, those that the
pupils subsequently read independently. For this activity the students chose
books to read from famous authors and then briefly told others about the plot
of the book, trying to explain why they liked it, doing a sort of
“advertising for the book”. With regard to the protagonist of the
story, the students had to reveal their characteristics in a synthetic outline:
physical appearance, personality, feelings, role. As regards the creative
aspect of the activity, the realization of the favorite character, protagonist
of the read book, was inspired by the fact that all the drawings would be hung
from the ceiling of the school corridor, right in front of the library, to
indicate the area dedicated to reading. The students chose to make the drawing
of their character on a card, which also included the title of the book, almost
like the cover. First they draw with a pencil and then they dedicated
themselves to color. The technique that most of them used was the pop-up
technique, and in any case everyone preferred to create a subject that
“came out” of the card. They used tempera colors, pastels, cards and
colored papers of different thickness and transparency. All the participants
were very satisfied with the completed works.

Responsible person of the activity: Local coordinator and first primary
class teachers.

Objective of the activity:

To make students feel involved in making their school welcoming.

To increase in the pupils the senso of belongings to the community and to
the place.

Drawing
or painting together is a way to tell and know each other, a moment that goes
beyond words. Painting constitutes a beautiful way of expressing oneself,
manifesting the deepest part of our emotions, it is a therapy for the mind and
a formidable moment of personal growth. Cezanne used to say, a long time ago,
that “it is not about painting life, it is about bringing painting to
life”. By painting, we work on ourselves and give life to what we create,
receiving many benefits:

PAINTING

• Helps to overcome the wall of communication and free
creativity, a useful exercise especially for shy and introverted people

• Strengthens self-esteem; if practiced in a non-competitive
and relaxing environment, painting helps to gain confidence in ourselves and to
value ourselves

• Improves motor skills. Handling a brush or pencil
helps us to regulate hand movements and develop brain connections related to
this skill

• Increases concentration. It is a meticulous work
that teaches to stay focused

• Helps the emotions flow. Painting helps to focus on
what we feel and to tell it, when words are not enough.

TECHNIQUE

The most suitable technique for working with children
is “ Tempera colors” . For this laboratory they have been used three
fundamental ones (cyan blue, magenta red and lemon yellow), plus white and
black. A brown and a beautiful bright red has been added for convenience
because they are colors that are a little difficult for children to compose,
all the necessary nuances can be obtained and desired, leaving the discovery of
unsuspected colors to the imagination and exploration.

Initially the pupils listened to the reading of Leo
Lionni’s book “Piccolo giallo e piccolo blu”, It was followed by a
free conversation about the history and possible colors and mixes of colors
that the children knew and with whom they had already experienced as everyone
had attended kindergarten. The motivation was that their product would make their
school entrance more beautiful and welcoming
school, so that anyone who entered the school would feel welcomed by
the… color.

RESULTS: this experience was highly formative in that it transmitted a strong sense of belonging to the community and to the place to the children of the 1st grade, 6 years old, who have recently entered primary school. They worked hard without performance demands, without having to produce landscapes or objects, but free to give vent to their creativity. Developing a sense of belonging to the places of the school is a key point for giving birth to the spontaneous care and sense of responsibility of the common material and the environments in which it lives.

Number of participants: 40 students from 5th grade /22
girls and 18 boys/

Responsible person of the activity: C.F. teacher and
teachers class.

MEASURABLE
OBJECTIVES

Concentration

Self-control

Problem Solving (Problem Solving)

Memory

Self-esteem

Inclusion (Fight against
Bullying)

Responsibility

Respect for the rules and
opinions of others

The following functions are recognized for the game of
chess:

socializing
function

cognitive function

ethical function

In relation to the socializing
function, it must first be emphasized that chess favors interaction with
others and, above all, places the subject in front of the need to take into
account the point of view of others.

Compared to the cognitive
function on several occasions it has been emphasized by experts that chess
favors the development of cognitive abilities, such as memory, concentration,
attention, foresight, spatial ability, the ability to find solutions, …
skills linked in a particular way to the logical-mathematical field.

Finally, the game
of chess has an ethical function: it is in fact a game with rules, rules
that are numerous and complex, and the respect of these rules is presented as
an essential condition for the development of the game itself. Games with rules
allow you to develop concepts of fairness, shift work, reciprocity and to guide
the rejection of those attitudes of abuse, impropriety, injustice that do not
allow the smooth running of the game. Chess is also a competitive game, where
respect for the opponent and acceptance of the outcome of the game become
attitudes to which it is important to educate students.

This group of students approached the game of chess for the first time. Information on the game and the rules have been explained and illustrated by the master through the use of the IWB.

Date of the activity : from 9/ 04 / 2018 To 31 / 04 /2018 Number of participants : 26 + 19 students Responsible person of this activity : Classroom teachers Objective of this activity :

To expand students knowledge about healthy eating and healthy lifestyle.

To expand the range of foods taken, such as taste education.

To explore the world of food through the five senses.

To know some characteristics of physical states of matter.

Students to have fun and be creative in their free time We started from the activities already present in the Institute and tried to strengthen and adapt them to the age of the groups of students:Test your senses: observe, smell, taste.TASTING Tasks can be proposed for various types of food (fruit, vegetables, bread, cheese) in order to:

sharpen the sense of taste, distinguishing flavors with increasingly less marked differences – also stimulating the other senses to discover the visual, tactile, olfactory characteristics of the various foods – expand the quantity of tastes pleasing to children / teens – arouse the interest of childrenThe cheeses lend themselves well because they have numerous and various organoleptic characteristics (color, taste, aroma, consistency) as well as diversity of origin, composition, processing, maturing, preservation, etc.The tastings are aimed primarily at discovering the different characteristics and, later, at recognizing the product with open or closed eyes. The number of food (cheeses) to be recognized can be varied or the food can be recognized with less marked differences, depending on the age of the students..For this activity the cheeses chosen are the most widespread in Italy

WE VOTE OUR RATING: Every student has a green smile to say “I like it” or a red smile to say “I don’t like it”. On a billboard are indicated, for each type of cheese, the votes of all the children. At the end the ranking of the most popular cheeses is made.

Images
from newspapers, magazines or from the internet depicting injured, sad or poor
people; sentences written on the back. (the images must be suitable for
children). Two copies of the texts for the role play (one for the teacher and
the other cut out for distribution to the groups).

METHOD

Before
the lesson the teacher prepares images by writing on the back sentences with
positive or negative meaning.

Examples
of positive sentences:

•
You look sad, what happened to you?

• You look hungry, can I share my lunch with you?

• I’m sorry your child feels sick.

• Don’t worry, I’ll help you fix it.

Examples
of negative sentences:

•
It’s not my fault what happened and I can’t help you.

•
Stop crying, you annoy me!

•
You don’t smell good.

•
Your clothes are dirty.

The
teacher writes on the blackboard “Words that show care and empathy for
others” and asks the students for the meaning of “empathy”.
Listen to the answers and then explain that EMPATHY means understanding the
feelings of others. The teacher shows the first image and reads the sentence
written on the back, asks “who thinks that what I read could be a kind
phrase or a help for the person in the image?”. He writes it on the blackboard.
After showing all the pictures to the class and writing all the kind phrases,
ask the students for other kind phrases that could be said to people in need.

ROLE
PLAY “Now that we have talked about empathy and the empathic phrases we
can say to sad or suffering people, we will try to put them into practice by
simulating real situations. You will work in groups and each group will have a
different situation to represent ”. Divide the students into groups of five and
assign each sheet with a situation to represent. After each group has made its
representation in front of the others, it discusses with the rest of the class
how kindness and concern for others has been demonstrated. Add other kind /
empathic words to the board.

Scene
1

Notice
a new child at school and other students ignore it. You decide to get close to
him and start talking to him.

Roles:

•
New child

•
Group of students who ignore it

Kind
child

“Represent the scene in front of the class, using
kind words to help the newcomer”

Scene
2

There
is a child in your class who seems very shy and, during the break time often
plays alone. One day you decide to go and play with him and ask others if they
want to do it.

Roles:

•
Shy child

•
Group of students who want to play with him

•
Other children

“Represent the scene in front of the class, using
kind words to help the shyest child.”

Scene
3

Your
two best friends make fun of a child from another class who doesn’t have many
friends. You don’t like what your friends are doing.

Roles:

•
Two friends

•
Child from another class

•
Child who does not like others to make fun of someone

“Represent the scene in front of the class, using
kind words to help the child being teased.”

Scene
4

There
is a new child at school who comes from another country and does not know
Italian well. Some children don’t want to talk to him and tease him about his
foreign accent. You too have changed schools the year before and you know how
it feels.

Roles:

•
Foreign child

•
Child who wants to help him

•
Other children

“Represent the scene in front of the class, using
kind words to help the new child to settle into the new school.”

Scene
5

At
school there is a child who sometimes beats other children and therefore has no
friends. You would like to help him and ask your master for help to know how.

Roles:

•
Aggressive child

•
Child who wants to be his friend

•
Teacher

“Represent the scene in front of the class, using
kind words to help the child a little aggressive.”

Scene
6

You
are at home with your older brother and your younger sister. Have a discussion
with your brother about the TV program to watch and your sister for the game
you want to play. You don’t like to have a discussion and ask your mom how to
solve the problem without arguing.

Roles:

•
Child

•
Brother and sister

•
Mum

“Represent the scene in front of the class, using
kind words to solve the problem with your brother and your sister.”

MAKE
CONGRATULATIONS TO OTHERS

OBJECTIVES:
children will be able to identify their own and others’ talents and strengths,
and find out how to compliment others on their strengths.

For
each question, explain with examples what children should write. Ex: the things
that I like about me are: the color of my hair, …I am good at football, … I
like to help my mother make cakes, ..I play the piano …

Introduction
“How are we outside and how are we inside? We have two faces like coins.
Inside we have our joys, fears, desires, dreams. Outside we are tall, skinny,
good at playing cards, swimming … We combine the two to get an idea of ​​how
we are. Answer the following questions so you can get a complete picture of
your person. “

The
things I like about me are: ———————–

I
am good at: ——————————————

I
would like to be good at: —————————-

A
skill I would like to have is: ————————-

My
secret dream is: ————————————

When
I grow up, I want to be: ———————–

Game
“WHO ARE YOU “

“Now
that you’ve indicated what you’re good at, let’s play a game to get to know
others.” Distribute the “Who are you” page. Start putting in the
box what you can do. Then, for the other boxes, try to write the name of a
companion who has that ability. Each box must have a different name. Who of the
class, gets 5 in a row or completes the sheet first, makes bingo “. Allow
10/15 minutes to play. Once everyone has filled out the forms, collect them
and, together with the children, see who has been indicated the highest number
of times for the individual skills.

CONGRATULATIONS

WHAT
ARE THE GOOD MANNERs TO DO?

OBJECTIVES:
Understanding how individuals and groups can face different situations thanks
to a kind attitude.

Understanding
how to be part of a community helps to respond positively to events.

1.
Divide the students into groups of 5.

2.
Give them 5/10 minutes to read the scene together and answer the questions in a
group.

3.
For each group, nominate the spokesperson who will read the designated scene to
the rest of the class.

4.
Ask each group to position themselves in front of the rest of the class (one
group at a time).

5.
Ask some group members to read their answers. (if there is time, the other
students can add their suggestions for the skits)

6.
As the group answers the questions, write their ideas on the board.

What
is the nice thing to do?

“Now
that we’ve learned about the abilities of others and ours, let’s learn how to
compliment them. “Can anyone tell
me what a compliment is?” Allow time for the children to respond and then
continue: “When you give someone a real compliment, you comment on your
abilities, what you can do. It’s nice to tell a person that you like his bike
or his new backpack, it’s also a good compliment to say “Luca you are
really good at soccer”. “Now, one by one you stand up and using the
things we discovered with the previous game, let’s start paying
compliments.” Make sure every child has done and received compliments. If
desired, write the compliments on the board, without writing the names.

Scene
1: “Be nice with parents”

Rita,
Luca and Marco don’t like doing houseworks. When mam and dad ask to take out
the trash and / or take the dog for a walk, they complain and don’t want to
help.

•
How can these children show kindness to their parents?

Scene
2: “Be nice with your sister”

Giulia,
Rebecca’s younger sister, wants to play with her. When Rebecca’s friends
arrive, Giulia doesn’t want to leave them alone and Rebecca gets very upset.

•
How can Giulia be kind to Rebecca?

Scene
3: “Be nice with a new schoolmate”

Simone
is a new student at your school. During lunch, Simone enters to the canteen and
sits down at a table, alone. A group of students at the next table start
teasing him. Adriano enters to the canteen and looks around in search of his
friends and sees Simone sitting alone.

•
How can Andrea be kind to Simone?

Scene
4: “Be nice with a friend”

Jasmine
is really excited about a new skirt. But when the next day she wears it at
school some girls make fun of her. Letizia is Jasmine’s best friend and sees
the girls making fun of Jasmine.

•
How can Letizia be kind to Jasmine?

Scene
5: “Be kind with your neighbor”

Francesco
is 10 years old and wants to help Mrs Stefania, a widow his neighbor who is in
a wheelchair. Mrs. Stefania’s garden is full of weeds and she is often alone.